String Quartet No. 5 (Shostakovich)

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Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 5 in B flat major (Op. 92) was composed in autumn 1952. It was premiered in Leningrad in November 1953 by the Beethoven Quartet, to whom it is dedicated. It consists of three movements, performed without a break:

1. Allegro non troppo -
2. Andante -
3. Moderato - Allegretto - Andante

The work grows from a five note motif: C, D, E flat, B and C sharp, which contains the composer's musical monogram - DSCH - (E flat being Es and B being H in German). This monogram appears in a number of his other string quartets, including the Eighth, as well as his Tenth Symphony.

[edit] Further reading

• The String Quartet by Paul Griffiths (Great Britain: Thames and Hudson 1983)

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Quartet No. 1 | Quartet No. 2 | Quartet No. 3 | Quartet No. 4 Quartet No. 5 | Quartet No. 6 | Quartet No. 7 | Quartet No. 8 Quartet No. 9 | Quartet No. 10 | Quartet No. 11 | Quartet No. 12 Quartet No. 13 | Quartet No. 14 | Quartet No. 15